N
The Daily Insight

What does kurtosis mean in Excel?

Author

Mia Phillips

Updated on April 24, 2026

Returns the kurtosis of a data set. Kurtosis characterizes the relative peakedness or flatness of a distribution compared with the normal distribution. Positive kurtosis indicates a relatively peaked distribution. Negative kurtosis indicates a relatively flat distribution.

Furthermore, how do you interpret kurtosis in Excel?

When interpreting kurtosis, the normal distribution is used a reference. A positive kurtosis implies a distribution with more extreme possible data values (outliers) than a normal distribution thus fatter tails (Leptokurtic distributions).

One may also ask, what is the acceptable value of kurtosis? Some says for skewness (−1,1) and (−2,2) for kurtosis is an acceptable range for being normally distributed. Some says (−1.96,1.96) for skewness is an acceptable range.

Also know, is Excel kurtosis excess?

Excel's kurtosis function calculates excess kurtosis. Enter the data values into cells.

What does a positive kurtosis mean?

Positive values of kurtosis indicate that a distribution is peaked and possess thick tails. An extreme positive kurtosis indicates a distribution where more of the values are located in the tails of the distribution rather than around the mean.

Related Question Answers

What does the kurtosis value mean?

Kurtosis is a measure of whether the data are heavy-tailed or light-tailed relative to a normal distribution. That is, data sets with high kurtosis tend to have heavy tails, or outliers. Data sets with low kurtosis tend to have light tails, or lack of outliers. A uniform distribution would be the extreme case.

What does a negative kurtosis value mean?

A negative kurtosis means that your distribution is flatter than a normal curve with the same mean and standard deviation. The easiest way to visualise this is to plot a histogram with a fitted normal curve.

Can kurtosis be negative?

In statistics, kurtosis is used to describe the shape of a probability distribution. Specifically, it tells us the degree to which data values cluster in the tails or the peak of a distribution. The kurtosis for a distribution can be negative, equal to zero, or positive.

Why is kurtosis important?

Kurtosis is a statistical measure that defines how heavily the tails of a distribution differ from the tails of a normal distribution. In other words, kurtosis identifies whether the tails of a given distribution contain extreme values. In finance, kurtosis is used as a measure of financial risk.

How do you calculate kurtosis?

m2 is the variance, the square of the standard deviation. The kurtosis can also be computed as a4 = the average value of z4, where z is the familiar z-score, z = (x−x¯)/σ.

What is skewness in Excel?

Skewness characterizes the degree of asymmetry of a distribution around its mean. Positive skewness indicates a distribution with an asymmetric tail extending toward more positive values.

How do you find the coefficient of kurtosis?

In order to obtain a coefficient of kurtosis that is independent of the units of measurement, the fourth-order moment is divided by the standard deviation of the population σ raised to the fourth power. The coefficient of kurtosis then becomes equal to: eta_2=frac{mu_4}{sigma^4}:.

What is Platykurtic?

What Does Platykurtic Mean? The term "platykurtic" refers to a statistical distribution in which the excess kurtosis value is negative. For this reason, a platykurtic distribution will have thinner tails than a normal distribution, resulting in fewer extreme positive or negative events.

How do you calculate skewness?

Calculation. The formula given in most textbooks is Skew = 3 * (Mean – Median) / Standard Deviation. This is known as an alternative Pearson Mode Skewness. You could calculate skew by hand.

What does Leptokurtic distribution mean?

Leptokurtic distributions are distributions with kurtosis larger than that of a normal distribution. A leptokurtic distribution means that the investor can experience broader fluctuations (e.g. three or more standard deviations from the mean) resulting in greater potential for extremely low or high returns.

How much kurtosis is too much?

The excess kurtosis should be zero for a perfectly normal distribution. Distributions with positive excess kurtosis are called leptokurtic distribution meaning high peak, and distributions with negative excess kurtosis are called platykurtic distribution meaning flat-topped curve.

How much skewness and kurtosis is normal?

(2010) and Bryne (2010) argued that data is considered to be normal if Skewness is between -2 to +2 and Kurtosis is between -7 to +7. Multi-normality data tests are performed using leveling asymmetry tests (skewness < 3), (Kurtosis between -2 and 2) and Mardia criterion (< 3).

Is high kurtosis good or bad?

Kurtosis is only useful when used in conjunction with standard deviation. It is possible that an investment might have a high kurtosis (bad), but the overall standard deviation is low (good). Conversely, one might see an investment with a low kurtosis (good), but the overall standard deviation is high (bad).

Is kurtosis a percentage?

In general, kurtosis tells you nothing about the "peak" of a distribution, and also tells you nothing about its "shoulders." It measures outliers (tails) only. For an outlier-prone (heavy tailed) distribution, this percentage is typically higher, like 2.0%.

How much skewness is significant?

As a general rule of thumb: If skewness is less than -1 or greater than 1, the distribution is highly skewed. If skewness is between -1 and -0.5 or between 0.5 and 1, the distribution is moderately skewed. If skewness is between -0.5 and 0.5, the distribution is approximately symmetric.

Why is kurtosis of normal distribution 3?

The normal curve is called Mesokurtic curve. If the curve of a distribution is peaked than a normal or mesokurtic curve then it is referred to as a Leptokurtic curve. If a curve is less peaked than a normal curve, it is called as a Platykurtic curve. That's why kurtosis of normal distribution equal to three.